4-1-2-3 DM, Doing it Tough!

[PepFC]

Trying to get a solid possession tactic going with AC Milan but having a lot of trouble creating chances and i'm always getting hit with long balls over the top or centre backs making silly mistakes.

The possession is usually around the 58%-62% mark but it seems like the AI gets 1/2 shots on target and they both go in where as i could have 25-30 shots and not score a goal. I'm also finding it tough to get a lot of touches inside the box and getting the play up to the byline, a lot of the passing is side ways in front of the opposition 18 yard line even though my full backs are CWB (A) which pushes them high up the pitch.

This is what the tactic basically looks like: 

Counter // Very Fluid

GK: SK (S)

LB: CWB (A)

LCB: CB (D)

RCB: CB (D)

RB: CWB (A)

DM: HB (D)

LCM: AP (S)

RCM: DLP (S)

LAM: IF (S)

RAM: AP (S)

ST: F9 (S)

Team Instructions:

Lower Tempo, Highest Defensive Line, Shorter Passing, Retain Possession, Roam From Position, More Closing Down, Work Ball Into Box, Play out From Back.

Haven't touched any individual instructions apart from asking Donnarumma to roll it out to the centre backs.

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

 

[vasilli07]

With a counter(I would also call it cautious) mentality and with shouts like lower tempo, retain possession(and probably shorter passing), your build up play is just too careful and slow to break a team down. Opposition is given all the time to set up their defence properly. Try removing lower tempo and retain possession and make your team play abit quicker. There is no point having so much possession if you can't generate good goal scoring chances.

[facman]

Agree totally with vasilli07, a Counter mentality with lower tempo, retain possession, shorter passing, WBIB and PooD is going to be way too careful and slow. As well as removing Lower Tempo, Retain Possession and Shorter Passing, I would also remove Roam from Position, as your Very Fluid shape will give bags of creative freedom to your players.

The next thing I would look at is how many playmakers you have in your team. Do you need that many? A playmaker is usually someone you want to dictate the play. The more Fluid your shape gets, the more creative freedom your players have, and the less they need to be assigned specialist roles, such as playmaker. Try looking at Section 1 of WWFan's guide below, for help in this area.

He recommends, and I have found his work to be pretty good, that with a Very Fluid system you should limit yourself to 0-1 specialist roles. Your tactic currently uses 4. If you have great players for the league you are playing in, you can afford to use much more generic roles for them, allowing their own creative atttributes to work in an unfettered way.

[JNOUnited]

I 2nd and 3rd everything that has been said. Your players already have the freedom to play and pass to who they want, specialist roles are not necessary in Very Fluid. Also your set up tactically is as if your already winning 2 or 3 to nothing and just want to see the game out by retaining possession. 

[PepFC]

I'm also having a really tough time stopping through balls / balls over the top between the Half Back & central defenders. Even though Romagnoli has developed into one of the best centre backs in the game and Gomez is no slouch either even though his passing is abysmal. Their positioning, anticipation, decisions etc are all 16+ but mainly all goals conceded are through balls in the centre of the park or balls over the top.

[vasilli07]

You can try dropping your d-line down a notch or 2. With max closing down, you should still be able  to do a pretty high press. Add press more PI to the few players(not the defenders and DM as you don't want them to go crazy ball hunting) that doesn't have it max out yet.

[Keyzer Soze]

Your 5 players in the midfield and attack are 3 playmakers, one IF(s) that creates more and attacks less and a F9 that also focus more in creating to other players.

Then you have 2 very attacking wingbacks, that will rush up and try to put the ball in the box to... no one.

Also, like already mention, you play with very low risk, and on top of that you reduce even more the risk by lowering the tempo, the pass lenght, by working the ball to the box (that reduce crosses and shots) and by retaining position (that reduces risk passes).

But you are Milan, so 80% of your opponents will adopt a defensive aproach.

So, as you can see, you are giving your opponent all the chances to sit back and with easy control your very slow and no-risk game.

You need to drop some of those playmakers and have at least one or two guys attacking the box. You also need to drop many of those "defensive" instructions, because you are already playing with a low risk mentality.

[facman]

7 hours ago, PepFC said:

I'm also having a really tough time stopping through balls / balls over the top between the Half Back & central defenders. Even though Romagnoli has developed into one of the best centre backs in the game and Gomez is no slouch either even though his passing is abysmal. Their positioning, anticipation, decisions etc are all 16+ but mainly all goals conceded are through balls in the centre of the park or balls over the top.

If you watch the first 15 minutes of a match on 'Full', you will be able to tell if your D-line is too high for that particular game. Any long ball (e.g. goal kick or through ball over the top) that has your defenders turning round and facing your own goal to chase it down is likely being caused by you leaving too much space for the opposition strikers to run into. You could solve this by either dropping your D-line, or by playing the offside trap.